The highly anticipated Gainesville-Hughes football game is finally here.
After a delay — which started when nearly half the Gainesville roster was suspended after a fight broke out in a second-round game against Brunswick — the 5A quarterfinal will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Thirty-four of Gainesville’s suspended players are now eligible, which means the Red Elephants will be nearly full-strength when they take on the defending 5A state champion.
The game will be broadcast by Score ATL and carried on Atlanta News First (ANF) and Peachtree Sports Network (PSN).
“No game comes close to comparing to the Gainesville-Langston Hughes we are doing Friday night,” said I.J. Rosenberg, president of Score Atlanta. “The attention across the country on this game is incredible, as even the national networks have been following the story. I have fielded calls from local TV stations in Georgia and around the South about coming in and covering the game.”
Rosenberg noted that Georgia High School Association executive director Tim Scott will be on the broadcast to talk about the GHSA’s “role in all the decision-making as well as giving perspective from Gainesville.”
Gainesville’s postseason run drew national attention just under two weeks ago when it received a hefty punishment for a fight between their players and Brunswick players in the third quarter of their second-round playoff game.
Video of the incident shows a Brunswick wide receiver pulling the helmets off two Gainesville players, then punching another. A second Brunswick player sprinted in and blindsided a Gainesville player, knocking him to the ground.
The GHSA suspended 79 players between the two teams and banned Brunswick from the 2026 football playoffs.
Gainesville, which won the game after being declared the winner of the shortened game, appealed their suspensions.
A back-and-forth battle between Gainesville and the GHSA fizzled after a judge ruled in favor of Gainesville, which filed an injunction to prevent the GHSA from enforcing suspensions.
Gainesville-Hughes streaming, broadcast info
Pregame will start at 7 p.m. and the game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m.
Score ATL will air a postgame show after the game until 11:30 p.m.
The game will be on TV on Atlanta News First (ANF) and Peachtree Sports Network (PSN). It will be available to stream on AtlantaNewsFirst.com, the ANF App and the NFHS Network.
DawgNation’s Brandon Adams and Rusty Mansell from DawgsHQ will be on the call with DawgNation’s Kaylee Mansell handling pregame, halftime and postgame.
Live updates from the Gainesville-Hughes will be available on AJC Varsity as part of our weekly high school football blog.
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